In this section we're going to cover three things:

#1 - How do you define "best" (it's easier than you think ...well ,the way I do it anyway)

#2 - Why design and make the world's best knife? (or more specifically -- and selfishly -- why do I want to do it)

#3 - I'll show you my initial design for The World's Best Knife

I'm not going to going into some long-winded, philosophical discussion about defining the word "best" or any of that kind of thing.

Let's keep this simple...

I'm not going to talk about materials, machines, methods, blade types, etc.. All those things are details that can fit within a broader definition. I've created my own boiled-down definition of "best" into the following three things:

Function is #1 and everything else comes behind that. Overall both the design and physical production of the knife must allow it to function as best as is possibly can. It literally should not be able to function any better. But also... each specific part of the knife must also be designed and should function in the same way (no matter how small the detail!).

No compromises on any part of the design of the knife should be made to save time, money or effort. This also applies to the materials used and the methods of production. If you can save time, money or effort without affecting the end result of the knife ...then great!

My aim is to follow the above definition (or perhaps we could call them "principles") ...and the result should be the world's greatest knife.

Does this sound too simplistic? Or perhaps even ridiculous? Fair enough. It may just be.

I'm going to add a FOURTH definition to the above three criteria. Let's not think about making the world's greatest knife specifically with the knife as the end result. Instead, let's look at it as a journey ...or perhaps a process.

Here's the fourth part:

Without getting too "airy fairy" ...the world's greatest knife is purely a result of the "the world's greatest knife making process". Does this not make absolute brain-dead sense? Testing, getting feedback from users, tweaking, adjusting ...and so on. THIS is really what gives me confidence in being able to make the world's best knife.

From my experience in designing and making other products this concept of process is a must if you want to make something that's really the best. (this is exactly what I did over the last couple of years to go from making my first fidget slider ...to ultimately making the world's best fidget sliders).

I'm pretty happy with the above as my own definition of "best". You may not agree with it -- and I absolutely appreciate that -- but it works for me.

Believe it or not, I have a super-simple answer to this. In all the various everyday carry products I've designed and made over the years I have always aimed for them to be the best.

Does this mean every product I've made has been the best on the market? Absolutely not!

But, here's the thing:

I have always, ALWAYS strived for every product to be the best. I've probably made -- and by made I mean actually physically made them on a CNC machine -- around 100+ products over the last 10 years.

I have designed a lot more than that (probably a few hundred) but only a small percentage of them get to the stage of being turned into a prototype and ultimately start being produced.

Now, here's another super-selfish, totally ego-driven piece of information for you (as if this entire thing I'm writing right now isn't the epitome of self-centeredness)...

The defining we did of "best" a few minutes ago was really just me trying to figure out why some of my previous products were so much better than others. I would not say any of my products were "bad" ...it's just that some of them were really were the best on the market.

Everyone has different preferences and things they like and don't like. So it is literally impossible to make a single knife that is the best for everyone.

I may well end up making a knife that many people might agree is the best. BUT there are still going to be people for whom that knife is just not for them (no matter how damn good it is) ...it's just not their thing.

Some people like slim knives ...others like chunky. Some people like thick blades ...others like thin. You get the idea.

The previous products I've made over the years definitely have a theme or style in how they look. If you're somewhat familiar with my previous designs, then you can typically identify a new design by me if you see it out in the wild (and by "out in the wild" that almost always means a photo on Facebook or Instagram ...or a video on YouTube).

But here's the interesting thing:

Over the years I've received various feedback from customers who have bought my products. The tell-tale sign that I have made "the best" of any particular product is when I get the same email over and over again from different people.

The email usually is something like this:

Like I said earlier, I don't receive this kind of email for every product (of course not) - but I've receive it often enough for specific products that I know it probably is the best. Or, at the very least, it's the best for a significant number of people (because, as mentioned above, it's not really possible to make the best of one specific thing for everyone).

I think it might be useful here to show a few of my previous products. Firstly, because it will give you an idea of the kind of things I've made previously. And secondly, you've been reading this wall of text for about 10 minutes and it's probably time to mix things up a bit.

NOTE: Some of the products I'm showing you below are just to show you I'm the real deal and do actually make things in real life (because, so far, I've just written a whole load of stuff on a page with nothing to back it up!)

The

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Before I show you the initial knife design I'd like to briefly touch on one of the things we discussed earlier: "Process"

An observation I've made across my previous products that I would class as "the best" on the market (and that's based mainly on the relentless feedback I would received from users of those products) is this:

These products NEVER started out as the best.

These products typically started of good ...but the commonality across them -- which ultimately took them far beyond "good" -- was a continual tweaking and adjusting of their design.

This is exactly how I expect the making of this knife to go. The initial design and making of it will be good ...but it's going to be the tweaks and adjustments over time that will transform it to far beyond just "good".

Okay, let's take a look at the initial design of the knife...

Yeah, I know, I've blurred out the design in the above image to try and build anticipation and excitement for you (it's probably not worked - but worth a try at least).

I promise, in the next section, you'll finally see it. I'm going to break down the design of the knife and get into all the "dirty details".